I'll Be Home For Christmas...

We decided to surprise Emily's parents by arriving home in time for Christmas.  The only people that knew were Emily, her brother Ed, his wife, and us.  We've been planning (more like scheming) since long before our wedding and honeymoon.  It involved a lot of creative lying, especially as we got closer to Christmas.  Emily's mom kept bugging us about reservations with the florist, caterer, and event planner for our reception in February.  She kept asking us when we were going to Skype with them on Christmas Eve, because we were in Athens with a seven hour time difference that is difficult to work around.  So, we had to be creative and make up a few white lies to keep her from knowing.  It worked perfectly until a week before Christmas.  Then, Dale almost blew it for all of us.

We decided that Ed would pick us up at the bus station in downtown Buffalo, we would go to his house, and their parents would come over for dinner thinking they were just going to spend quality time with the new baby.  The Sunday before our arrival, Dale decided there was just too much to do in preparation for Christmas, so her and John weren't going to go to Ed's house.  Ed was forced to let Dale's sister, Gretchen, in on our little plot.  John and Gretchen convinced Dale that Gretchen wouldn't get to spend much time with baby Przylucki, so they should go to see Ed and Amanda on the 23rd before Christmas Eve.  Dale finally relented and decided to go.  She also kept talking about Skyping us on Christmas Eve.

We got into Toronto on the 22nd, stayed there for a night, and then got on a bus for Buffalo where Ed picked us up.  We went to Ed and Amanda's house, and also got to see our nephew Henry (Emily says, "Baaaaby!!!). Around a quarter to six, Emily's parents arrived with her aunt Gretchen.  We hid next to the Christmas tree, so they would see us after they got into the room.  Ed told Emily's parents that Henry had a gift for them under the tree, because Henry got Amanda's parents something the week before.  They came in, and there we were!  Emily's mom stood there for a full minute, mouth agape, not really believing what she was seeing.  Finally, she recovered and kept saying, "Oh my god!  Oh my god!  Oh my god!"  John said, "Oh my gosh, wow.  Look who's here."  After the initial shock wore off, we had dinner and got to hang out for a while.

Merry Christmas everyone!